The construction of a giant steel mill began in Iran's northwestern province of East Azarbaijan involving an investment of $26 million allocated by the private sector.

The construction of a one-million-ton steel plant officially commenced on Sunday in Hashtroud, East Azerbaijan Province, reported Fars News Agency.

According to East Azarbaijan Province Governor General Mohammadreza Pour-Mohammadi, the plant, which is the private sector's biggest project in the steel industry, is scheduled to become operational within two years.

The production unit will be established in an area of 10,000 hectares.

Upon completion, the steel company will create more than 350 direct and 350 indirect jobs in the province.

On January 26, the World Steel Association (WSA) announced that Iran ranked 10th among crude steel producers in the world in 2018 with 25 million tons of production — a growth of 17.72 percent compared to the figure for 2017.

Iran has pushed aside Italy, Taiwan and Ukraine to become the 10th biggest producer of crude steel in the world for the year 2018.

The WSA has put the global crude steel production for the year 2018 at 1,808.6 million tons, which shows a 4.6-percent increase compared to the figure for 2017.

Based on the report, the second to ninth places went to India, Japan, the US, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey and Brazil with 106.46 million tons, 104.33 million tons, 86.7 million tons, 72.46 million tons, 71.68 million tons, 42.44 million tons, 37.31 million tons and 34.73 million tons respectively.

According to the Islamic Republic's Vision Plan, the country's total steel production capacity is to hit 55 million tons a year by 2025, with exports figure expected to reach 10-15 million tons.

In a very recent move to further increase the country's steel production, two major steel plants, a direct reduction iron (DRI) and a steel pelletizing plant, were officially inaugurated by Iran's First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri in the southeastern province of Kerman on January 26.